Hogges halt losing streak in convincing fashion

In the midst of a nine-game losing streak, Hogges halted that miserable run in thrilling fashion last night, outplaying Long Island Rough Riders in a performance full of commitment and attacking fervour.

It was, without doubt, Hogges' best most complete display in recent memory, making a mockery of the basement dweller position with Maurice Lowe's side looking every inch play-off contenders.

In reality though, Hogges are not in the play-off picture, nowhere near, in fact, which made last night's satisfying showing against one of the league's better teams all the more perplexing.

Lashun Dill, equally enigmatic as the team he plays for, set the tone for the Hogges in the 25th minute when he slid home a neat pull back from teenage midfielder Tre Ming, who had made his first of many well-timed runs beyond the strikers.

Perhaps having their commitment to the cause questioned by skipper Antwan Russell in the build up to the game did the trick, because Hogges ran, and ran, and ran, and never let Rough Riders settle into any passing rhythm.

And while the visitors displayed more threat after the break, Hogges keeper Tahj Bell was rarely called into action until the 60th minute when Darius Cox conceded a penalty for a trip on Adriano Gabriele, who stepped up to convert the kick.

Any fears that Rough Riders' leveller could expose Hogges' sometimes soft underbelly were firmly put to bed, however, when Hogges restored their advantage almost immediately,

A raking through ball from Keishen Bean, whose Hogges return certainly added extra craft and guile to the midfield, found Dill free in the box with the leggy marksman making no mistake from close range.

By this stage a shell-shocked Rough Riders seemed ready to board the first plane back to New Jersey, and it was no surprise when they conceded again with ten minutes remaining.

This time it was Dill who turned provider, picking out the lively Domico Coddington who completely flummoxed Naples with a sublime body serve before simply strolling past the hapless keeper and tapping the ball into an empty net.

Hogges coach Lowe admitted he had talked to his team about the importance of salvaging some positives from season that had promised so much but delivered so little.

And he challenged his players to at least end the campaign on a high note by winning their two remaining games, both at home, starting with Baltimore Bohemians on Sunday.

“We did everything excellently tonight and it was a big performance from us,” he said. “We talked about playing for pride and the motivation we played with tonight was excellent.

“This is a development league and we're trying to put together this kind of performance consistently and tonight it all came together for us.”